Groton - The death of a 22-year-old sailor at the Naval Submarine Base was a suicide, according to the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner.

Machinist’s Mate Third Class John Carlos Rodriguez, who was assigned to the USS Hawaii, died of a gunshot wound to head, according to the office.

Rodriguez, of Doylestown, Penn., was working early Friday on the pier at the base, said Lt. Patrick Evans, Submarine Group Two public affairs officer.

He was taken to Lawrence & Memorial Hospital in New London around 5 a.m. Friday after the incident, where he was pronounced dead at 10:20 a.m., according to the hospital.

No one else was involved or injured, Evans said.

The suicide is under investigation. But that investigation should not delay the upcoming departure of the Hawaii (SSN 776) for its new homeport in Pearl Harbor, Evans said.

A memorial service for Rodriguez was held Monday at the Shepherd of the Sea Chapel.

“We grieve with the family,” Rear Adm. Bruce E. Grooms, commander of Submarine Group Two, said Tuesday, calling it an “unfortunate incident.”

“We are investigating what drove this,” Grooms added. “We looked really closely at the climate aboard the submarine and I can tell you with 100 percent certainty that the boat and the senior leadership are as good as it gets.”

Rodriguez enlisted in the Navy in 2006. He attended the Naval Submarine School in Groton from July 2006 to January 2007 and reported to the Hawaii in February 2007.

Anonymous said...
There seem to be a lot of rumors, innuendos, and suppositions on why this happened. I don't think that we will ever have the real answer, TM3 Rodriguez is the only one who knows. What I can give are some facts:

- HAWAII was getting underway at 1000 that day for a change of homeport to Pearl Harbor
- Pier sentry was caught on the cell phone by a senior officer (who was walking into work) at around 0400
- Officer confiscated the phone and told the sailor that he was going to get him a relief
- DCPO came topside with a relief for the pier sentry at about 0415 and he had already committed suicide
- The sailor did not have a history of disciplinary problems within the command, he had qualified quickly and was onboard for over 2 years

HAWAII has been in and out of drydock 3 times in the last year or so, and there have been stressors to ensure that they make the change of homeport on time. I do not know if any of these were contributing factors, but I imagine that they could have been. Also, the final straw of knowing that he had some sort of discipline in his future for being on the phone could have pushed him over the edge, but I doubt that it was the only factor.